June

The start of June - a year since we arrived and the downhill slide to leaving - saw graduation signs popping up in front yards, be it from elementary school, high school or college (I couldn't find one from a middle school in my travels). The signs were put out by volunteers and mark where each graduate from the respective school lives.

5th grade graduate, elementary school.

12th grade graduate, high school.

College graduate.

Russ and I made the most of his spare time to enjoy some scenic walks around where we live, including a nice walk around Theodore Roosevelt Island https://www.nps.gov/this/index.htm .

Beautiful park.

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial

Little duck family. We also saw a turtle, but it was camera shy.

Throughout the year many of the services and departments represented at the National War College hosted tours of their facilities and assets to better understand how and what each service and/or department does and how they do it. On Wednesday, 4 June the United States Navy hosted a trip to the Naval Station Norfolk (the largest Naval base in the world), just outside of Virginia Beach for a tour of the USS George H Bush (a nuclear power aircraft carrier (CVN)) and USS Nitze (an Arleigh Burke Class Destroyer (DDG)).

The captain's harbour cabin on the USS George W Bush. A bit bigger than the cabin Russ had on HMAS Choules!

USS Nitze.

Russ and I attended a graduation dinner for all International Fellows from National Defense University on Tuesday, 10th June, which was held at the International Spy Musuem (were they sending us a message?!). There were about 170 students across the four courses, 30 of which were in Russ' course.

All dressed up again.

The formal graduation was held on Thursday, 12 June, a very hot and humid day indeed. Fortunately there was a massive marquee so everyone was in shade. The ceremony presenting the graduation certificates to the students took about 90 minutes - not bad considering there were over 700 students who crossed the stage that day.

I haven't mentioned a lot about Russ' study in this blog, other than his travel, but I have to say how incredibly proud I am of the hard work and dedication Russ applied this year. It was a heavy workload, earning a masters degree in about nine months, and there were many days and nights Russ was locked away in the study reading or writing papers. Having said that though, Russ never let his study get in the way of family travel or activities, the balancing act was en pointe.

Grateful for the massive marquee.

Congratulations Russ. Take note of the eagle statue in the arch above Russ' head.....

Russ and Yves (Canadian fellow) patting the eagle after graduation.

One last trip to the lecture hall.

After graduation Laura and I left Russ to celebrate with his peers at the War College bar, Teddy's, and also complete some admin. Not necessarily in that order. I then travelled back into DC for dinner with Russ, Ed (Aussie at Eisenhower College, NDU) and his wife Sally, and Colleen (NZ at Eisenhower College, NDU) and her husband Nick at Albi, a fantastic middle-eastern restaurant https://www.albidc.com/#our-story

A wonderful dining experience.

The following day we said a sad farewell to our car. Back in early May our landlord (Jon) advised us that he had rented the house to a family moving down from New York. I mentioned to Jon that we would be selling our car and asked if he could let the new tenants know as I thought that being New Yorkers they may not have a car. To our surprise, Jon decided that he would like to buy the car and agreed that he would take it whenever it suited us. What a gift. No stress, easiest sale of a car ever.

On Saturday, 14th June Russ and I ventured into DC for the Army Parade. Huge crowds were expected, but there certainly wasn't anywhere near the 200,000 that was being touted. Estimates show more like 40,000 people attended. There was lots to see, including a vast array of military vehicles.

The stage where POTUS sat. There was a glass box surrounding his area.

George Washington era army.

Army vehicle.

Tank.

Bigger tank.

Ben had his middle school graduation (or promotion as they also call it) on Tuesday, 17 June. It was a lovely creamy on the school gym, with participation from some of the students who read out poems they had written - amazing talent.

Ready for graduation.

Ben being presented to the crowd.

Graduated!

The next day I took Russ to Great Falls Park https://nps.gov/grfa/index.htm, which is where my friend Evelyn and I used to regularly walk. It's about a 30 minute drive from Arlington on the Maryland side of the Potomac River and runs between the Potomac and the C & O Canal https://www.nps.gov/choh/learn/index.htm. We'd had a huge storm the night before, so the river was absolutely pumping.

Part of the C & O Canal.

The trail, so stunning.

One of the locks, in amazing condition given that it is nearing 200 years old.

The mighty Potomac.

And so began our last week in the US.

On the Saturday we took a quick day trip to Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, which is only about an hour east of Arlington, on Chesapeake Bay.

What an absolutely charming town. It's interesting that Annapolis is the capital, as its population is only about 40,000, whereas Baltimore has a population of 566,000. Our only regret with coming to Annapolis was that we didn't do it sooner, or for a weekend, as there was much to explore.

We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant overlooking the wharf. Many very nice boats cruised by, making Russ very jealous.

Rooftop vibes.

5 x 500hp motors on this boat.

Very loud boat.

Many boats and ducks.

After lunch we took a walk through the town centre, where we saw the Maryland State House, which was for a brief period of time the US Capitol.

Maryland State House

Charming streets

My favourite house.

Our last week in DC was both very busy and very hot. Temperatures were around 36 - 38 degrees max and mid to high 20s minimum.

Monday was pack and uplift, with our personal belongings shipped back to Australia by both air and sea freight. We also moved into a hotel, thankfully to two rooms as we had eight suitcases plus hand baggage to store.

Tuesday we did some cleaning during the day and then in the evening met friends to watch the Sunset Parade at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial.

U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial

With teenagers for scale.

Marine Drum and Bugle Corps

Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon

Wednesday the rental furniture was collected. All was going well until the removalists put a hole in the wall when carrying a chest of drawers downstairs! Thankfully our landlord was very understanding and arranged for his handyman to fix, at the expense of the rental company. Fortunately I had lunch with another friend made via Ben's school, Michelle, that day which took the edge off (the two wines helped too!).

Thursday was a much more relaxed day with just a few errands to run, returning some borrowed items and donating some household goods no longer required.

Russ and I barely saw the kids the last week. They were very busy socialising with their friends: sleepovers, meals out together and trips to shopping centres.

Our last US meal.

As we head back to Australia, we are truly sad to be leaving our neighbourhood. It is incredibly beautiful, the people have been lovely, and the kids have made the most wonderful friends.

A taste of four seasons in our street:

Summer

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer again.

We'll also miss the dogs that are everywhere, including in doggy day care packs like this:

Good dog!

Also, for those who have been reading along since the beginning and remember my comment about the massive magnolia trees, they finally bloomed, and are magnificent! Big tree = big bloom.

Hand for scale